


Dust and Ashes 2

by TheHirsch



Series: Dust and Ashes [3]
Category: Almost Human, Dust And Ashes
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Developing Friendships, Explicit Language, F/M, Friendship, No Smut, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Violence, War, World War III, based on an rp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:27:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22241809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHirsch/pseuds/TheHirsch
Relationships: Jurnex
Series: Dust and Ashes [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1601299
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

-24th October 2048- 

As winter grew closer, things seem to calm down significantly. Up here in the north, the climate was not comparable with the climate of California, temperatures rarely climbed above 10°C. The Russian poison attacks had practically stopped, and so had the appearance of zombies. The group holed up in the house were able to get a routine going, and a steady stream of supplies, either from going to towns or, increasingly, making and growing things themselves.  
Natasha was now spending less and less time outside in the field since everyone wanted her and the kid to be safe and not having unneeded stress.  
John was still going out in the field but tried to be careful so he would come home in one piece. One day, in particular, he was not pleased about going out because his team would be Richard and Rudy. Rudy was fine, but Richard. Richard was still not getting along with him very well.  
John had settled into a leader of the group, along with Sandra, and so he felt he had to put himself in danger if he expected others to do the same.  
“I’ll be back soon... it’s just to get repair parts,” he said, softly.  
“Be careful, babe,” Natasha leaned in to kiss him. “Love you.”  
John kissed her back. “Love you too, babe.” He turned and ruffled Leo’s hair. “Be good for your mom, okay?”  
Natasha smiled at how cute this was. And the boy nodded, a bit sad.  
Leo hugged onto John for a bit, before going back to Natasha.  
She gave John a hug. “See you later.”  
“Be right back.” He said, hugging her. He bent down to kiss the top of Leo’s head, which made the boy whine that John’s new beard was itchy.  
Again Natasha had to grin about this.  
“Okay big man, let dad work and we go upstairs and you can read to me from your new book while I'm working?”  
“Okay!” Leo said with a grin.  
She took Leo hand and waved to John. John waved back and went to meet with Richard and Rudy.  
Natasha had to do some maintenance work during the day. She went straight to the room where they kept their gears and weapons and started to prepare her workspace.  
Leo pulled himself a chair into the room and sat down next to Natasha. He started reading her from his new book. Natasha and John really were trying to continue his education despite the current state of the world.  
Natasha listened attentively while she started taking apart a gun. It warmed her heart to see how the boy made progress. She loved spending time with him.  
“Mommy, what are you are doing?” Leo asked when he was done.  
“I’m cleaning a gun.” She was cleaning the rifle from residue. She did it with great care she knew how important it was to keep the gun working properly.  
“Did it get dirty?” Leo asked.  
She nodded. “It gets dirty when you use it.”  
“How?” Leo was very confused as the gun didn’t look dirty to him.  
Natasha took a handgun she still needed to clean and double-checked that it was not loaded before taking it apart with skilled hands. She showed him the black residue on the inside of the barrel of the gun. “You see, when you fire it there is a small explosion inside the gun. This pushes the bullet out with high speed and from the explosion there is always stuff left inside the gun. An when you never clean it and use it a lot it can jam, and not work anymore.”  
The boy watched with huge eyes. “Woah! So it goes boom? It is that’s why I’m not allowed to touch them?”  
Natasha nodded. “A gun is very dangerous and it is easy to hurt yourself or others with it, even if you don’t even want to.”  
“But why do you and Daddy always have them?”  
“We are trained to know how to use them safely and it is a good option to defend yourself.”  
“When can I learn how to use them?”  
“I’ll have to talk to your dad about this,” she answered diplomatically.  
“I wanna help stop the scary people.”  
She laughed. “That’s very noble of you, Leo. But I can’t decide without asking your dad first.”  
“Okay,” the boy said and went to grab another book for his lessons.  
Natasha nodded and started to put the rifle back together.  
The rest of the morning went fairly smoothly at least until lunch when someone called Natasha to come to the door quickly.  
Rudy had returned, alone and badly beaten. Natasha noticeably gasped when she saw Rudy. She helped him inside and asked him what had happened.  
Rudy was hysterical. “I’m sorry.... we got jumped by this group and they started attacking us. I tried to fight, but they took John and Richard. This one-woman had me tied up and smacked around before telling me to bring this to you guys.” He handed Natasha a blood-stained St. Christopher’s medallion.  
She wiped off the blood and saw the “A” on it, she had a bad feeling about this. Everything screamed “Anna” right into her face.  
“First of all Rudy, this is not your fault. I'll check you over,” she looked around and noticed a man, one of the group members, coming up to them. She turned to him. “Go, find the Captain, tell her that John and Richard are gone and that Anna could behind this.”  
Dorian had heard the commotion and went to check, as soon as he was inside the infirmary he noticed the medallion. “Natasha, give me that. There might be a tracking device in it.”  
She gave it to him without hesitation. “Then bring it away from here but don’t run. Walk like Rudy.”  
Dorian nodded and adopted a limping shuffle, like how Rudy came there.  
Natasha helped Rudy to sit on the bed before she started to check him over.  
“I’m sorry,” Rudy said, still hysterical. “I should have done more.”  
“No. As I said. It is not your fault. You did all you could, I know it.” She gave him a reassuring look. “What does hurt the most?”  
“Head hurts. Side hurts.” He looked up at her.  
Natasha resumed her trauma check-up and nodded. He had bruised ribs, a concussion and quite an amount of surface hematoma. She had to relocate his shoulder as well and clean a few smaller cutes as well.  
Dorian was gone for a while, presumably to throw off the attackers if there was a tracking device in the medallion. He usually helped Natasha out with his scanners to make sure there was no internal hemorrhage and fractured bones. But Natasha could do this without him, it was just not ideal. Before she started to fix up Rudy, she gave him local anaesthesia for his shoulder. That seemed to help him relax a bit.  
As she continued to help him Sandra came in, with water for them both and some extra supplies. “Carol is keeping an eye on Leo. He is asking her questions about babies.”  
“Alright good,” Natasha said to Sandra. “What do we do?” Yes, she should have been freaking out but she was focused on helping Rudy. And while she talked to Sandra she popped the shoulder back in place, hoping Rudy was distracted by their conversation and it was less scary for him.  
Rudy didn’t expect that and stopped mid-conversation to let out a gasp of pain.  
Sandra crossed her arms and frowned. “We get John and Richard back alive. That’s our number one goal.”  
“We could try to use their cop chips to find them again.”  
“When Dorian gets back, we can. Though, if there is a tracking device in the medallion, he might be able to reverse it and use it to use it against them.” Sandra said, looking at Rudy for confirmation.  
“It is possible,” Rudy said with a shrug and winced a bit from moving his shoulder.  
“I would help you if there is a way I can,” Natasha said to Sandra. She had finished up cleaning Rudy’s cuts and now made a sling for his arm so his shoulder could heal properly.  
“Right now we need to wait until we hear back from Dorian,” Sandra said.  
Natasha nodded and turned to Rudy. “And you better have some rest. Do you need help to get to your room?”  
“I want to help, It was my fault—”  
Sandra shook her head. “It was not your fault. You're being alive and telling us what happened is helping already.”  
“She’s right, Rudy,” Natasha said.  
Sandra moved over and patted Rudy’s good shoulder. “You’ve done amazing, Rudy. Now it’s time for you to rest.”  
“I still want to help....” Rudy objected.  
“You need to rest. Doctor’s orders,” Natasha said firmly.  
Rudy nodded, clearly not happy about that.

*** 

It took a number of hours, but Dorian finally returned. “I was right. There was a tracking beacon. I sent the trackers on a meandering trip before I finally cut the tracker. I was able to get where it was tracking from. It’s the same place where John’s tracking chip was before it cut out.”  
Jurow sighed. She was very, very worried. She hoped they hadn't killed them yet. From all she knew, Anna was a ruthless character in this game.  
“....that doesn’t mean the worst,” Dorian said, quickly. “It’s entirely possible his captors turned it off or made him turn it off when they realized its existence.”  
“I hope you are right.”  
“We need to get a group together to go there now. Hopefully, they haven’t moved yet.”  
“I can come with you.”  
Dorian frowned. “If you think that’s wise.” He was obviously talking about the fact that Natasha was pregnant, and it was visible now.  
“I was with the SWAT and a soldier. Besides they could need a doctor.”  
Dorian nodded. “Okay….” He didn’t sound very convinced.  
Sandra, who had just watched the situation without saying anything got up from her seat. Sandra got up. “You’re wearing a Kevlar jacket; end of the story.”  
“Of course. Thank you, Captain.” Natasha got up and got ready to head out.  
Sandra went and found a larger Kevlar jacket in their stock, that would protect Natasha and the baby. She knew that Natasha always wore one when she went out in the field, but her regular one was not fitting anymore.  
Natasha had already packed her backpack with some extra medical supplies and ammunition when Sandra came back. Dorian had found others who knew how to fight and volunteered to come with them.  
“Be careful,” Sandra said to everyone. “InSyndicate is ruthless. I don’t want to lose more people than we already have.”  
The team nodded, most of them had at least heard about the gang and what they had done before the war.  
“Alright. Let’s get our family back.”  
Natasha knew that this would not be easy, but she was confident that she could handle it.  
The team took the bus and it was not long before they were on their way where Dorian had last pinged Richard and John. In the middle of the valley, Dorian stopped the bus and made their way to a nearby settlement only to see that whoever had been there had already cleared out.  
Dorian frowned and started scanning everything for clues as to where they might be headed.  
Natasha had both her hands at her rifle, she didn't even think about touching anything. She was in battle mode.  
“I’ve found blood, it matches both John’s and Richard’s,” Dorian said. He had stopped at a spot in the front yard. “It looks like they were dragged away when the group left.”  
All eyes were at Sandra, waiting for orders.  
“Any heat signatures or footprints?” Sandra asked the DRN.  
“On it.” Dorian slowly walked through a gap between the buildings, clearly on a path.  
The group followed him until Dorian stopped again and looked around, frowning. “They got into a vehicle. The tracks go east but then it goes off-road.”  
“At least something,” Natasha said, trying to sound as optimistic as possible.  
“I’m going to follow it as long as I can. You guys stay here in case of danger,” Dorian announced. He headed out into the woods and soon came back. “They figured out a way to cover their tracks. I can’t find them.”  
Natasha sighed.  
“We will find them, Natasha. We will get them back. There’s still evidence in the building that might give a clue where they went.”  
Natasha nodded, but she was still worried. She kept a close eye on their surroundings.  
Dorian went back into the building and scanned. And quickly figured something out. “There’s dust around here that has an odd mixture of chemicals. Not anything dangerous to humans at such low levels, but the signature indicates it came from a weapons depot, likely a military base.”  
“Compare it to your maps?” Sandra asked.  
“Working on it. I’m trying to determine their most likely location.”  
After a few minutes, Dorian came back. “There’s a small military installation about twenty minutes from here by car.”  
Natasha could not stop worrying. She had met Anna, she knew what this woman was capable of.  
Sandra noticed how tense the doctor was and patted her back. “We will get them back.”  
Natasha nodded, she didn’t know what to say.  
The team made it quickly back to the bus and got it ready to go. Dorian offered to drive since he had at least the basic knowledge of bus driving in his memory bank— and as it happened he did a good job. A bit later they arrived, Dorian parked in some distance to the place so they wouldn't be heard.  
“Everyone, make sure your weapons are ready to go,” Sandra said, firmly.  
Natasha had already checked her rifle, several times, but she did it again just to be sure.  
They moved quietly, trying to maintain the element of surprise as much as possible. There was a suspiciously small group at the depot that they could take out easily. Sandra looked at everyone and nodded to get ready to fight.  
The team nodded back and engaged in the fight first. The part of the gang they met was small and easily outnumbered which quickly put Sandra and Dorian on high alert. The rest had to be hiding somewhere. Clearly, this wasn’t the full group.  
Natasha was trusting Sandra’s orders, she too had noticed that the group of thugs was way too small.  
“Everyone, do a sweep. Be careful of booby traps or people hiding!” Sandra called out.  
“Yes, captain.” Natasha, like the others, did so. She had done this a few hundred times already but this time it felt different. This time a  
Valerie managed to break into a small shed and called out for Natasha. “It’s Richard! He’s hurt!”  
Natasha was not far from her and quickly made it over. She hunched down and turned on her torch to see something in the dark of the shed. Richard was badly beaten and semi-conscious. He looked like he had already been to hell and back.  
“Hey Richard, we got you.” Natasha checked him over again, this time specifically looking for spine and head injuries and internal bleeding, to make sure he could be moved without causing more harm.  
Richard opened his eyes and looked at Natasha for a minute and then seemed to be remembering something. “They took him,” he wheezed. “The woman, Anna, dragged him away.”  
Natasha nodded and sent Valerie to go tell Sandra, who quickly came over.  
“Thanks, for telling me,” Natasha said to Richard.  
“How is he? Do we need to take him back?” Sandra asked Natasha.  
“He has cuts and lesions need cleaning, he will need time to recover.”  
“Can we put him on the bus for now while we investigate.”  
“Yes, but someone should stay with him, just in case.”  
Valerie raised a hand. “I can keep an eye on him and treat the minor injuries.”  
Natasha knew she could do that. “Good. Thank you.”  
Dorian did a quick scan on Richard. “I don’t see any internal bleeding or anything life-threatening, but he is concussed and badly bruised.”  
Natasha gave the DRN an acknowledging nod. “Let’s get her and find John.”


	2. Chapter 2

After Richard was helped onto the bus, the team spread out to search the area. At initial glance, it looked like the gang was packing to leave. There was no John and no Anna around.  
“Well, this was a base,” Dorian said to Natasha with a frown. “Not anymore.”  
"They aren't gone for long, that's for sure."  
“There’s a shallow grave out back that hasn’t been filled. And I haven’t found any bodies that we didn’t cause. I have a bad feeling they were going to kill Richard before getting out of here.”  
“Let’s find them before they get a different idea.”  
Dorian nodded. “Yeah, I don’t see any clues as to where they might be going to.”  
“Are we sure they are not hiding here?”  
“I don’t sense any other heat-signatures that aren’t our people. But we can keep looking.”  
Natasha nodded. She looked around, her rifle still raised.  
Dorian headed into a different direction, looked around carefully. He kept coming up empty-handed until his sensors went off. “Everyone, John’s locator chip is back on!”  
“Where?”  
“About eight miles north. It keeps going on and off. But I can get a general sense of his location.” Dorian motioned for everyone to meet up.  
Sandra frowned. “Are you sure you have him, Dorian?”  
Dorian nodded.  
“Let’s go!” Sandra said firmly.  
The group got on the bus and headed over to where Dorian last sensed John. Again they parked it in some distance to the location.  
As they slowly made their way to the base, Dorian paused. “More people here.... how do we want to approach this?”  
“Split up,” Sandra said, softly. “Find a way to get in and then alert the others.” The team did so.  
Natasha grabbed her rifle with both her hands and carefully went around the building, in full soldier mode. The building was oddly quiet, even though Dorian said there were plenty of people around. Natasha made sure she always stayed in cover or close to it. After a few minutes, Natasha could hear a woman laughing.  
“You don’t need to be in stealth mode, doctor!” a woman’s voice called out. One that Natasha had heard before, only as impersonating a nurse many months ago.  
Immediately Natasha turned to her, her gun still raised, she analysed the situation and the layout of the back-yard they were standing in. Natasha could take cover behind a bunch of solid flower pods if needed. It seemed like it were just the three in the backyard.  
John was kneeling on the ground, in front of Anna, looking like he had been beat to hell. Anna had grabbed him by the hair and had a knife to his throat. A half dug grave was about twenty meters away, between the trees in the back of the yard.  
When Anna saw Natasha’s larger stomach, she laughed. “Didn’t think you were the dad type, John.”  
Natasha shrugged, exhaled and pulled the trigger, shooting Anna right into the face. Anna collapsed right away, fell backwards, the knife nicked John’s neck but not life-threateningly.  
John fell to the side, in agonising pain from what he had been through.  
Natasha checked again if they were alone while she went over to John, her gun still ready. When she had reached him she let go of her rifle so it was only hanging by a strap over her shoulder. She knelt down, pulled out a piece of dressing from the pocket of her vest, ripped it out of its packaging, and pressed it against the cut at John’s neck. “I got you. You are safe now,” she whispered to John.  
John groaned in pain and looked up at her. “‘Tasha?”  
“Yeah, it’s me. I’m here now.” She kept pressing at the cut while checking John over.  
He seemed to have a concussion, a cracked rib or two, and his ankle looked like it had been stomped on. And he was bruised and scraped up as he had been in several fights. But, miraculously, no signs of internal bleeding or other hemorrhages.  
“I got John, I took Anna out, we're in the backyard,” Natasha said to the others over radio.  
Dorian, who had noted the gun going off, was already heading over to their location. He quietly came over, waving so he wouldn’t surprise them. He saw Anna’s body and nodded. “You shot her, Natasha?”  
“Yes,” Natasha answered briefly and sounded a bit cold  
Dorian nodded. “Good.” He did a scan of John. “He’s pretty beat up, but I don’t see any internal bleeding or anything that requires surgery.”  
“Good.” She was glad Dorian's scan and her assessment matched.  
“I’m sure the others are coming if we’re done here, we can head back home.”  
“Yeah, alright.” Natasha didn’t look up from John.  
Sandra came over, saw Anna’s body and fired another shot in the woman’s head. “Don’t want her coming back as a fucking zombie.”  
“I already went for the head. And are you saying I can’t shoot?” Natasha said without any emotion in her voice.  
“I know, I’m being extra careful. I don’t want any chance of that bitch coming back.” Sandra moved closer and knelt next to Natasha and John. “How is he?”  
“He is roughed up but he will recover.”  
Sandra nodded as the rest of the group converged. “Let’s go.”  
Natasha turned to Dorian. “Can you carry him?”  
“Yeah, no prob--” he froze mid-sentence. “We have company.”  
Natasha turned around quickly, having grabbed her rifle again.  
Sandra and the rest of the team surrounded John and Natasha, blocking them from Anna’s gang.  
Natasha made sure she would shield John, she would defend him if needed.  
The goons kept coming closer, they were armed and they seemed surprised to see Anna dead.  
Natasha was tense, she expected them to attack any second. The goons were shocked and looked up at Sandra and the others.  
Sandra glared at them. “You knew she had it coming.” Maybe torturing the quasi husband of a Russian army officer was a bad idea, yeah it most definitely was.  
Natasha glared at the goons, she kept her grim face. She was hoping they would be smart enough to run away and never crossways with them again.  
But the goons didn’t move, Sandra cocked her gun.  
Very slowly, a few of the goons backed away, realising that they were nothing without Anna’s leadership.  
Natasha held her position until all of them had backed off. She knew that one of them could want revenge for what she had done.  
One did act up, reached for a gun, but Sandra had shot him dead before he could even fire. This scared the rest of the goons away.  
Natasha slowly secured the dressing at John's neck. John was in a lot of pain but not in serious danger.  
Dorian stepped closer to them and stooped down to John. “Hey man, we’re gonna get you outta here, okay? I’m gonna pick you up and carry you over to our bus.”  
Natasha made room for Dorian but stuck close to him and John when he carried him to the bus.  
They managed to get on the bus without incident and Dorian lay John onto a couple of seats. “Here you go, just gotta take a little bus ride.”  
Natasha sat down on the floor in front of him. “I'm staying right with you. As soon as we are at our place I'll give you a pain shot and fix you,” she said softly and took his hand.  
John cling to Natasha’s hand and looked up at her. “.... you okay?”  
“Yes, I’m fine.”  
“And Leo? And the baby?”  
“Leo is home and safe and the baby is fine too.”  
John looked a little more relieved but still held onto Natasha’s hand.  
She squeezed his hand. “By the way, we found Richard. He is hurt but alive. Rudy will be okay too.”  
Richard scooted over and waved at John. “Hey.... I’m actually glad to see you alive....”  
John managed a small smile. “.....same....”  
Natasha was glad to see them actually get along for the first time in forever.

***

Dorian got them back to the mansion fairly quickly. “Richard, do you think you can walk with help? Or do you want me to carry you after I get John in?”  
Richard shrugged. “I can try with help.”  
“I’ll help you in, Richard. Dorian, you take John, be careful with him.” Natasha said.  
“Thanks, doc,” Richard said with a small smile.  
Dorian gently picked up John and carried him off the bus. Natasha helped Richard to get inside and upstairs.  
Leslie came running towards them to help. “Leo is kept in a room. He is okay,” she told Natasha.  
“That’s great. Thanks,” Natasha said.  
“What do you need me to do.”  
“Take care of Detective Paul. I’ll fix John. If you should need help, tell me?”  
“Alright. And in you need a hand let me know.”  
“I will.”  
John was laying on a bed, groaning in pain. “Side hurts, ankle hurts too.”  
“On it.” Natasha got her bag. “I’ll give you a shot against the pain before I start treating you.”  
“Thanks,” John whispered.  
After she had given him the shot, she carefully undressed him, cleaned him up and put him into an oversized t-shirt. She stabilised his arm in front of his chest so the ribs could heal. Before she moved on to examine his ankle.  
His ankle was heavily bruised. It looked as if someone had stomped on it while John was lying down or likely held down. His fake leg looked rather beat up like it was used as a club.  
Natasha elevated the ankle to help with the swelling and went to ask Dorian to scan for fractures.  
“His ankle is fractured but the bones are still in place,” Dorian told her after he had done the scan.  
“Thank you, Dorian. Can you see if you find anything that we could utilise as a splint?”  
“I’ll do that right now.”  
Natasha continued to clean John's smaller injuries. After a while, Dorian came back and Natasha started to reset and stabilise John’s ankle. John was fast asleep now.  
Dorian returned a few minutes later with the things she needed for the splint.  
“Thanks again,” Natasha said softly.  
“How’s he doing?” Dorian asked.  
“He will be alright. I hope.”  
“I’m sure he will be.”  
Natasha reset and stabilized John’s ankle so it could heal properly. Once she was done with that, she started cleaning his cuts and other smaller wounds.  
“At least he’s not complaining,” Dorian said with a shrug as he was watching his friend sleep.  
Natasha chuckled at that. She was so glad John was alive.  
“Do you need a hand?” Dorian asked her.  
“I’m good at the moment. You can help me force him to stay in bed when he wakes up.”  
“Sounds good. Though he might be too sore to fight that or to get up at all.”  
“Yeah, he has pretty significant bruising. I really hate when he gets hurt.” She started to tidy up the infirmary and then went to take off her outer gear.  
2I heard Leo’s been getting really fidgety and asking where you and John are.”  
“I’ll go see him.”  
“I can sit here with John if you want someone to keep an eye on him.”  
“Yes, that would be helpful. Thanks.” Natasha left the room to see where LEo was at. When Leo saw her, he ran and hugged her being carefuly around her belly.  
“Hey, Leo! We are back and we picked up dad and Richard too.”  
“Where’s daddy? Is he okay?” The boy looked worried.  
“He got a few owies but he will be alright. He is sleeping at the moment, he was really tired.” Natasha explained.  
Leo looked at her and started to tear up. Quickly he wiped his face. “I tried to be brave!”  
“I know, Leo. It is okay to cry.” She scooped the boy off the floor. “You are very brave.  
“I was so scared!”  
“Even the bravest people are scared sometimes. Don’t let fear stop you.”  
Leo nodded and hugged onto his mum.  
“Does Daddy need a stuffy? I can let him use my teddy bear.”  
“I think he would like that,” she said with a smile and sat Leo back down so he could run to his bed and grab his teddy.  
“Can I go give it to him?”  
“Sure.”  
Leo went over to where John was. And froze at seeing him hurt.  
Dorian saw Leo and moved over. “Hey buddy, your dad’s okay. He’s just not feeling well so he is taking a nap.”  
Natasha frowned slightly. “He will be alright.”  
Seeing all the bruises seemed to have shaken Leo a bit, but he moved over and put the teddy bear next to John’s shoulder. “Feel better, daddy. I love you.” Then Leo went back to hug Natasha.  
“It’s alright, pal. Anything I can do to make you feel better?”  
“Are you gonna stay now?”  
“Yes. Absolutely.”  
“Can you read me a story?”  
“Sure. Let’s head over to our room.”  
“Okay.” Leo tried to lead Natasha to where he kept his books.

-25th October 2048-

John was out the evening and much of the night. Natasha and Dorian had carried him over to their bed so the infirmary was cleared and to keep an eye on him all the time. It took him until early morning until he began to stir, groaning in pain.  
Natasha had not been asleep, she turned to him and slowly moved over to him. “Hey, John. Do you need something?” she asked quietly. She could see him suffer like that.  
“Hurts still…. Throat is dry,” he opened his eyes, looked around and at her. He noticed the bear. “Where’s Leo?”  
Natasha pointed to the curled up little human under two layers of blankets to their left.  
“He let me have his teddy? That’s really sweet.”  
“He thought you could use it.” Natasha moved over to get John a glass of water with a straw.  
John took a few sips before handing it back to Natasha. “He’s a good kid.”  
She nodded and put the glass on the nightstand and went to prepare a pain-control shot.  
“Thank you,” John murmured. “So much.”  
“Doing my best.” She gave him a brief smile.  
“How is everyone else?”  
“Richard is recovering. Rudy too.”  
“Good…. good…. I’m sorry. Anna only wanted to go after me.”  
“It is not your bad. Anna is a bitch.”  
“She asked about you. I told her that you were dead so she wouldn’t come after you. She didn’t believe me.”  
“That was worth a try. I don’t think she will be a problem in the future.”  
“Good. I really don't need her threatening you or the kids.”  
“How much do you remember of what happened at their base?”  
“You shot her, right?”  
Natasha nodded.  
“Good. I love you,” John said with a smile.  
“I love you too, John.” She sat down next to him.  
“And I hope you don’t mind but I plan to stick around for as long as possible.” He took her hand.  
“I am really thankful for that.”  
John smiled. He looked sleepy. The pain meds were kicking in pretty quickly and made him a bit woozy.  
Natasha leaned over him to give him a kiss on his forehead.  
John was already nodding off. He looked peaceful.  
Natasha pulled up his blanket and tucked him in before lying back down with Leo, who was still fast asleep. She turned so she could see John and Leo.  
Leo slept a few more hours until it was morning, he was happy to see John awake. He had climbed onto John’s bed and was telling about his day yesterday.  
Natasha had been woken by Leo moving through the room and was watching the two. John was listening closely to what the boy was telling him.  
“Oh! And I read Mom a story,” Leo told him.  
“Did she like it?” John looked over, saw Natasha watching them and smiled.  
“I think so,” Leo said.  
Natasha smiled at that.  
“Good. You know, the baby will love your stories where they’re here.” John stroked the boy’s hair.  
Natasha’s smile grew bigger, John was such a great dad and Leo was a good boy. Seeing the two like that made her happy.  
Leo beamed when John said that. He asked what kind of stories the baby would like. He kept chatting until he announced he had to go to the bathroom before scurrying off.  
John turned to Natasha and looked at her with a smile.  
Natasha smiled back and moved over to lie down next to him. “How are you feeling, babe?”  
“Alright. I’m glad to be here and alive.” He leaned in and kissed her.  
“I’m glad too,” Natasha said before kissing him back.  
“Hey babe, do you remember those rings we found a while ago? Do we all still have them?”  
Natasha nodded. They were in a box over with other things they had gotten from tours or taken from raiders. “Why are you asking?”  
“Just curious,” he whispered.  
Totally smooth, Natasha thought. “Nope. I know what you are thinking.”  
John blushed. “I-- Well, I can’t kneel and I don’t have a ring on me…. but Natasha, I would absolutely love to become your husband.”  
“And I would love to be your wife,” she said with a soft smile.  
John took Natasha’s hand and kissed the back of it.  
Natasha gave him a kiss. “I love, John Kennex.”  
“I love you too, Natalya Jurow. Very much.”  
The two could hear how Leo came back inside the room. The boy grinned when he saw the two.


End file.
